Humbug

The festive plastic bags that many other municipalities drape over their parking meters during holiday periods won't be decorating downtown Newark this Christmas season or any other time. The meters haven't been bagged for two years. At least now the omission will be legal. The city has repealed the law that gave drivers a downtown parking break.

That gift was not tradition, it was the law in Newark.

An ordinance said that downtown parking meter regulations would not be enforced during certain holidays. Mayor Cory Booker's administration, however, said it studied the matter and determined that commuters took advantage of the free holiday parking, hogging the metered spaces all day, keeping away the shoppers that the moratorium was meant to attract. The city lost parking revenue and did not get the economic boost from holiday spenders.

So, the Booker Administration ignored the law. Drivers fed the meters money the city was not entitled to collect, some may have paid tickets the city was not entitled to issue. That was wrong, that was illegal, whatever the marketing study said. The citizens don't get to pick and choose which laws to obey, neither should he city.

I'm disappointed that Newark could not work out a way to provide the same kind of charity that is routine in so many other municipalities, including other commuter hubs.

The Newark Parking Authority sent a contingent to Atlantic City in November for a statewide meeting of parking associations. That meeting was supposed to be working trip, not a holiday, so you'd think the Newark team might have spent some time talking to someone about how other municipalities handle holiday parking.